Am I missing something? Light price rant!

[matrix243]

I think alot of companies are still struggling. Still not out of it.

 

[mudblood]

American manufacturing is not cheap. It's as simple as that. To hire an entire crew of probably hundreds of workers and put them here in the states is not cheap. That's why there's such a price difference between American made lights and Chinese made lights. There's also a big quality divide between the two. We have seen it ourselves. Are there some good batches from China? Absolutely, and I won't lie. Are there pathetic batches from China? Absolutely.

What I can tell you without getting too deep is that it just isn't cheap to make stuff here (regardless of whether the parts are from here or not) to hire employees, buy or lease a good-size building, and have a full-time crew of workers assembling parts and then having another crew handling sales, marketing, product development, testing, PR, warranty, shipping, etc...

Hopefully that helps answer the question. I know it's not cheap. Believe me.. but there is a difference

IT'S A FACT OF THE ECONOMY. They want to unionize McDonalds etc.. Now what do you think the Big Mac would cost in a year or two if all the fast food joints were union? 6 Bucks....10 Bucks?? Americans workers are under a higher cost of living than most overseas countries and of course they will have pay commeserate with that. Then there is considerably more quality control than in overseas locations, which cost $$. There are all the government rules and regulations, benefits (obamacare) liabilty insurance....................etc. etc. etc. Mo money and mo money...............and the sad part is Chinese stuff while being cheaper probably has more mark up than American stuff. When you buy American you ensure jobs and you ensure they stay here!! Look at it this way............it's the cost of keeping our country strong..........unless your a liberal. If that is the case..................move to China........PLEASE!

 

[mikehoncho88]

There are quality LED lights that are cheaply priced on eBay and other sites. There is a very popular thread on pirate extolling the virtues of the cheapo Chinese light bars. Yeah Baja Designs and Ridgid are nice, but if you can get 90% as good for 25% of the price that is very appealing to a lot of people. Just like it is in a lot of other areas like tools, parts, etc.

 

[mudblood]

There are quality LED lights that are cheaply priced on eBay and other sites. There is a very popular thread on pirate extolling the virtues of the cheapo Chinese light bars. Yeah Baja Designs and Ridgid are nice, but if you can get 90% as good for 25% of the price that is very appealing to a lot of people. Just like it is in a lot of other areas like tools, parts, etc.

Not to be argumentative but I have seen plenty of those "off brand" lights. While they were somewhat cheaper (no way 75% cheaper more like 35%) and I can tell you they were no where near 90% quality or output of the brand lights. More like 50% at the most. Then wait a year or two and see how many are still working versus some of the name brands. Honest to goodness...........you get what you pay for. Plus your helping the country you live in to remain economically strong!!

 

[Cleave]

There's a reason you'll only see vision x, rigid, and Baja designs in the trophy truck pits of the Baja and other such races, and it's not because those companies gave the race teams the lights for free, racers have to trust their lives in the quality of the lights they put on their trucks, those lights go out for a second in the middle of the night at 80-130 mph it's very likely it's not just going to be the end of your race, the high cost the high end brands demand is there for a reason, and it's not just because it costs more to manufacture stuff in america

 

[mikehoncho88]

Not to be argumentative but I have seen plenty of those "off brand" lights. While they were somewhat cheaper (no way 75% cheaper more like 35%) and I can tell you they were no where near 90% quality or output of the brand lights. More like 50% at the most. Then wait a year or two and see how many are still working versus some of the name brands. Honest to goodness...........you get what you pay for. Plus your helping the country you live in to remain economically strong!!

Here's an example of what I am talking about:

300W LED Work Light Bar Flood and Spot Combo Offroad 4WD SUV Boat Driving Lamp | eBay

$199 with free shipping for a 50 inch light bar. People have bought these, and done extreme torture testing with good results. Actually, I have hardly read a bad review of these, or heard of someone getting stranded on the trail because of them.

Now here is the name brand light:

Rigid Industries E Series 50" LED Combo Light Bar Clear 150312 | eBay

$1519 for a 50 light. I have little doubt that it is a better light. but come on.

As to your other point, I do agree we can support the local workers and economy. That is legit. everyone will have to consider that and make up their own mind.

By the way, the off brand light was 13% of the name brand lights price. So my estimate of 25% was wrong.

Edit: I don't want to come off like Mr. Chinese light guy. I'm just pointing out the facts. But while I am at it, I might just order one of those cheap light bars...

 

[t_j]

I'm not sure you can say that low cost = low output, Totron units with CREE LED's have the same/similar output specs as the Rigids (or other US brands) at comparative power consumption.

As for other advantages/myths:

* There is no IP or MIL rating for the consumer rigid E or D series units (at least they do not list them on the site) - Totron lists its units as IP67 (completely dust sealed with 1m emersion for at least 30 minutes) which should be good enough for most of our uses. The Rigid Q series have some ratings on them, but no one talks about buying these.

* The LED's used by companies are probably the same (CREE) and in these products the LED quality on of the 2 most important things in terms of light output.

* Rigid lists optics as patent pending, no details on what that patent covers, or why you should chose their optics over other manufactures, this just seems to be a gimmick to drive up price.

Maybe they are stronger, brighter, but the cost for the consumer versions is not justifiable compared to their none US competitors.

As for the fact they support the military I'm sorry but I don't think keeping the money in US manufacturing facilities justifies the increase cost to the tax payer (you and me). That will probably annoy some of you but its a reasonable point considering that we end up paying for them.

To put the cost into perspective, I just purchased:

- 4 Totron T1318 driving lights 6LED (18W) comparable to a D2
- 1 Totron TLB3240 40" Bar 240W comparable to a 40" E series
- Amber covers for all of the above

Total cost, shipped same day: under 500 bucks.

Now I did buy rigid mounts for them, which cost wise are more reasonable than the cost of their lights, still all in I am still under 600 bucks, which is less then half of what I would have shelled out for US made products.

 

[Macman]

My Chinese 40" has great output and has had zero issues since install.

 

[justvettn]

I dont think you can say that a 18w Totron is comparable to a 36w D2
The D2 has 3030 Lumens and a lifetime guaranty, how about the Totron.
Oh and by the way the optics on the Totron is embarrassingly ugly would not put that on my truck it screams cheap!

 

[matrix243]

You really have to match up to duty hours and just what they're used for.